What Hide and Seek Leads To
by katieduong52694
Summary: Never play Hide and Seek in the Forest.
1. Chapter 1

Katie Duong

Started 4.9.08

Edited 12.3.08

**What Hide and Seek Leads To****[fiction; working title]**

Black. White. Red. How can these colors represent so much?

Black. Darkness is always looming around. Always there for you to fall back on. It's scary to some. Peaceful to others. I was one of the others.

White. Light will forever linger everywhere. To guide you. White. The blank object we start with. Hopeful thoughts of utopia. A dream. A life.

Red. The most extreme, intense color. It's hard to understand. Love. Passion. Anxiety. Fear. Anger. Blood. Stop.

No more words were formed to race through my mine. I was suspended in darkness. But a distant glimmer of light shined. I was in water. I then saw that the water I was swimming in was red. I didn't understand.

And then I heard a muffled noise.

I jumped and fell of my bed. Mom was in a rush. She slammed the door closed. By that time I was wide awake. I looked out the window. Below, my mom drove away to work. The sun was beautiful, warming me. The first day of summer vacation. A day alone with my brother Micky.


	2. Chapter 3

Katie Duong

**[Chapter 3]**

I never remembered my dreams for more than an hour after I woke up. But this one stayed in the corners of my mind waiting to attack me whenever I had time to think about what it was. And I never remembered having the same dream more than once.

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My brother and I got used to going to the forest everyday. The forest was beautiful. At ease.

Then one day, we decided to play Hide-and-Seek. If only I knew how dangerous it was..

"You're four years older, so let me hide first!" Micky begged.

"Fine. How bout to a hundred? One. Two. Three.." and he was off. I sat down with my back to where he headed. I sketched a few random bits from the scenery and then yelled out, "One hundred!"

I walked around looking for a greenish-brown band tee that he was wearing. How convenient that everything around us was just about that color too, on the day we decided to play this game. I couldn't see him anywhere. Half an hour must have passed. I was starving. I decided to look for our red football. Wherever it was, he wouldn't be far away. I gave up after a few minutes; my stomach making me impatient. I wondered if he was smart enough to turn off his phone.

I called. The line rang once and went to voice-mail. His ringer had went off for just two seconds. I couldn't manage to locate which direction it came from. I walked in circles around a massive tree.

Then something was behind me. I spun around. In the corner of my eyes I saw a glimpse of red. I panicked. I thought it was blood. I looked down slowly. It was our football. I breathed in relief. I called again. Micky's phone rang loudly. I looked up and knew what was coming. I was blinded by tears before I could even look.


	3. Chapter 4

Katie Duong

**[Chapter 4]**

"Oh my God." was all I managed to gasp. I was completely dumfounded. My brother was there. But my Micky wasn't there at all. "No." I muttered.

My brother's body hung. He wasn't breathing.

As I stared up into his icy, blank, dead stare, tears streamed down my face. I couldn't feel them. I couldn't feel anything.

My mind was blank. Tears continuously rolled down my pale face. But I wasn't crying anymore. I wasn't thinking anymore. I couldn't.

What should I do? I couldn't do anything.

_Call the cops. _I thought but that idea was interrupted by another. Who did it? And now, where is that person?


	4. Chapter 5

Katie Duong

**[Chapter 5]**

I couldn't move. My brain didn't work.

Who would kill Micky? There was no way that he committed suicide. I saw his wide grin as he ran off to hide. He got into trouble now and then but he was a good kid. People liked him. We were fairly close and if there was something wrong, he'd tell me.

There was no wind but the leaves brushed. I turned as white as a ghost and froze like a dear. Without warning, I was attacked from behind.

I tried desperately to escape. My blood-curdling scream lasted longer than I thought my lungs could handle and somehow kept going. Though I hated vulgarity, it was my first instinct; that along with kicking. I was kicking everywhere, trying to escape. I finally kicked him in the place I tried to target, below the belt, and he released me so fast I almost lost my balance.

I ran as quickly as I could, thankful that I wore my old comfy Chucks. My body ached and my lungs were sore from all that screaming. Even though my body couldn't possibly take it, I kept running. The trees started clearing. I ran across the road only a couple of inches away from an oncoming car, causing a small line of cars with drivers whose faces were shocked and puzzled. I walked into town, exhausted.

I was barely able to walk. I sat down on the bench in front of a brightly lighted store, resting until my breathing was semi-normal and then bought some water. I never thought it could be so refreshing and relieving. As I sat back down, I tried to remember what he looked like. I didn't see his face. He was wearing all black.

The sun was ready to start fading away. I walked into a store. I was so jumpy. I saw people dressed in black everywhere, but they were in a group. I didn't have anything to look for, no hair color, no skin tone, no height(he was bending down after I kicked him). He was skinny though, with a slight build; strong enough to restrain me.

I walked around the store, close enough to the exit to book it if anything happened. I looked at the clothes on the racks, searching for nothing but sanity.

I looked out the display windows again, then someone grabbed me by the arm.


	5. Chapter 6

Katie Duong

**[Chapter 6]**

I was grabbed by the elbow. But the touch was soft. Restraining but with an edge of gentleness to it.

I turned around cautiously. My heart pounded out of my chest. I was so relieved to see that it was my best friend, Elle, in the place of someone who could've been a killer.

She had a big smile on her face as her hand slid down my arm to hold my wrist and pull me in for a hug. As we let go, I didn't make eye contact. Her smile faded away when she sensed I was in a far from pleasant mood.

"Hey, Bonnie," she said hesitantly, "Uhm, I'm sorry I scared you."

"N-no, no it's okay."

"Yeah, no I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have done that." She said as she hugged me again.

I held her tight as tears streamed down my face. "It's not that, really."

When she heard my voice that was raspy from crying, she pushed me away to look at my face. She brushed the tears off from under my eyes and pulled me outside. We sat on a bench and she held me and I cried into her lap.

After minutes of not being able to control myself, one round of tears was coming to an end and I took grasp of reality. After some quivering deep breaths, I got control and took a shot at talking. "..." Only a cracked, hoarse whisper came out.

I tried again, "Elle.." I explained it all.


	6. Chapter 7

Katie Duong

**[Chapter 7]**

I gripped her hand tightly as I told her everything. With her other hand, she covered her mouth to try not to interrupt(or scream)and stared at me with wide eyes that with every word became more frightened, scared, and watery.

"What do we do, Elle? What happens now?" I asked her.

"I don't know. I don't-" she took in a shaky breath. "I'll call the-"

"No, the police can't do anything." I said, cutting her off.

"They can find the person who did it, Bonnie." She said as calm as she could.

"How? Tell me! They're not going to just find him. Who knows where the hell he is now!" I responded. I didn't mean to raise my voice to her but I couldn't stay calm.

She didn't say anything. She knew me too well to think I was really angry at her. She knew that I always acted on impulse, whether it was good or bad, and that I usually overreacted to things for a moment. She just held me again.

After another minute, she said, "Hey, Bonnie, girl, take it easy. Micky might have played a prank on you. Maybe he got a friend to restrain you and he's still alive, he just played dead. I mean, I remember that time you called me and you were pissed because he hid in your closet at night to scare you."

"Ellie, you've got to believe me. I stared into his eyes. They were so cold. He just wasn't there. The Micky that we know wasn't there. He's gone."

"It's still a little bright. We should go to the forest and see if it's real. Then we'll call the cops, yeah?"

"Alright. I'm gonna catch whoever did this." I responded quickly. Not knowing our decisions would change our lives.


	7. Chapter 8

Katie Duong

**[Chapter 8]**

"I'm gonna go tell my brother and sister that we're going to the forest." Elle said.

I stalked into the store and waited. I was too afraid to be outside by myself. Elle came back after she found her brother and told him where we were going.

"Look, Ellie, I just don't think I can go back there." I told her the minute we stepped out of the store.

She took a deep breath of the cool air and said, "Whatever happens, I'm there with you. I'm not leaving you. What ever will happen, will happen to the both of us."

"Thank you, Elle."

"Listen, I read this online: 'Every story has a happy ending. If it's not happy, it's not the end.'" She said assuring me.

So we headed to the forest, the first moment my foot set ground on the dirt that separated from the road, a chill swept over me. I stiffened up. Elle looked at me, and the emotions in her eyes told me she was feeling the exact same thing.

We both held absolutely still. Not sure if we wanted to take another step. Until we heard a noise. Something was in the trees above.

"Ahhh!" We both screamed in terror as we jolted our heads up to see what it was.

As we saw a black smudge leap down from the branch, we jumped back. But then signed in relief and laughed in embarrassment. A raccoon.

"Heh. Well, god damn." Elle said jokingly, in a sarcastic tone.

After a minute of gathering ourselves, we decided to go on. Every single minute felt like an hour. And every noise we heard resulted in screams. But they had all been forest animals.

Then we were there. I couldn't help but stare. Even though the sight I beheld was horrible, scarred, and been engraved in my mind.

I broke down. I fell and sat down cross legged with my hands holding my face. Elle kneeled down beside me, her tears falling down on my shoulders. At that moment, I didn't care if I lived or not.

"Come on." Elle said, trying hard to contain herself. When I didn't move she said, "Let's go! Bonnie, it's already dark. The last thing we want to do is be here in the dark!"

I could barely hear her. At first, the words confused me. I didn't understand. The words seeped in slowly, one by one.

I got up and held her hand. I needed to feel that someone was here with me.

We walked for a few minutes slowly. It was getting very dark. Every minute, the scenery got more and more sinister.

"Let's go a little faster." I said.

She nodded in agreement with a small positive smile, knowing that I've come back. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I paused. "I don't know what's real anymore. And, I just don't know what I'm meant to feel anymore, honestly."


End file.
